


Dance with Me

by FirozTaverbi



Series: Extended Universe [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, M/M, tideshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 23:27:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7012471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FirozTaverbi/pseuds/FirozTaverbi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Melodious Nocturne and the Lunar Diviner spend a little downtime together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance with Me

Dusk was approaching, the ocean an inky blue, and the setting sun cast the rocks and trees at the perimeter of the cove into long shadows across the shore. Night animals rustled in the undergrowth. Drawn by the tide, little waves crested and sighed against the sand. The air was beginning to settle as the wind swept the fresh smell of salt in from the sea.

Demyx reached for the last slice of pizza in the box.

"You want this?"

Saïx shook his head. Subconsciously he brushed his fingers through the sand, exploring the rough-smooth texture of the grains against his skin. The shallower sand still warm from the afternoon, denser sand with the subtle, cool hint of moisture beneath. Demyx ate the pizza slice crust first, making a balancing act of soggy dough and stringy cheese. He had shaken off his coat hours ago, revealing a slim, ill-proportioned frame; then when their mission was complete he stripped to his underwear and disappeared into the silky water, calling Saïx to join him. Saïx remained steadfastly coated, booted and on land, not wanting to admit that he didn't know how to swim.

"This is the life, huh," said Demyx as he finished the last bite of pizza. He was looking out towards the horizon where the sea and sky where fading to the same dark hue. He wore a strange expression, a smile that wasn't a smile and a stillness that wasn't blank or empty. Contentment?

"We should return to the Castle."

"Yeah, sure," said Demyx. He summoned his sitar and began to strum a simple pattern of chords. A pair of birds swept across the surface of the ocean and settled invisibly. Saïx watched his companion, eyes closed, playing the strings by familiarity of touch, a peaceful smile touching his lips.

"How can you be so mellow when your very existence teeters on the edge of nothingness?"

Demyx laughed. The music paused. "Getting upset about it isn't going to change anything." He began to pluck the sitar's strings again. Then he added, "It's bad enough losing my heart in the first place. I'm not going to let myself get lost in the Darkness too." He hummed along with his melody, changing a note here, picking a new chord there.

"Change is inevitable," said Saïx evenly. The image of a sullen blue-haired child emerged in his mind, but he quickly returned such traitorous nostalgia to his subconscious where it belonged.

"Sure," Demyx agreed, "But what happens if you wake up with your new heart and you realise you've forgotten how to feel happiness?"

"You can't forget how to feel. Feelings just _are_."

"Maybe," said Demyx. He pulled himself to his feet, pacing in the sand, eyes focused on the horizon. He stroked his thumb across the sitar strings, making it sigh melodiously. "Look how beautiful the ocean is tonight. Do you ever dance?"

Sometimes on nights like these - and there had been more than a couple lately - Saïx wondered if Demyx was really as much of a fool as he appeared, or if there were some secrets of the heart only he knew. But he reminded himself in whose hands they had all placed their trust and futures: Xemnas and his colleagues had spent years conducting advanced experiments on the human heart, and knew all its mysteries. Perhaps Saïx was the fool for ever considering the merit of Demyx's idle claims.

"Of course not." Did Saïx dance!

Demyx began to play a lilting, complex tune. From the surf a water copy of himself rose, moving with an alien fluidity; Demyx brought the clone close then gave his sitar to it. During the exchange Saïx noticed the clone's silhouette falter, but once it had picked up the tune it was able to sustain itself, like a curious clockwork toy.

"Neat trick, huh?"

"Impressively useless."

Demyx walked over to Saïx, feet dipping into the sand. The sun had settled for the night, painting him grey and purple. For the first time Saïx noticed that he held himself with a kind of weightless grace, as if he were moonlight flowing across a calm ocean mirror.

"Dance with me," he said.

"Absolutely not."

Demyx crouched down, catching Saïx's eyes.

"Dance with me."

"Neither of us have the capacity to enjoy it," Saïx recited. "You're a waste of my time."

"But we remember what it was like, right? Isn't that what makes us different from other Nobodies?" Demyx reached for Saïx's hand; it probably surprised both of them that he offered little resistance. "If we forget what it was like to be human, what to we become?"

"Memories are too powerful to be forgotten."

"Maybe," said Demyx. "Come on, humour me. It's not like you'll hate it."

"I have better things to be doing than this," Saïx said, but he let himself be helped to his feet. As Demyx led him closer to the water Saïx became aware of how fragile he was, how defenceless, how easily he could sink his teeth into the Nocturne's flesh and shatter his bones with the force of his claymore. But instead of doing any of that, he let Demyx place one hand on his shoulder and one on his narrow waist where his vest was still damp from swimming. He said, "This is foolish."

"There's nothing wrong with being foolish sometimes," Demyx quipped, lightly. He nudged Saïx's leg with his toe. "This foot first. Follow the rhythm." Why did Saïx obey? Why did he allow Demyx to stand so close, to brush his hand against Saïx's hip, to lead him in this caricature of romance? If it was nostalgia, it was for an intimacy he'd never known. Perhaps it was mere boredom with the endless secretarial duties awaiting him at The World That Never Was. Maybe after so many years as an empty half-being Saïx yearned so deeply to feel something, _anything_ , that even Demyx's naïve illusions began to hold an allure for him.

The stars were piercings in the blanket of the night sky. The tide had turned and the waves were beginning to recede. Lulled by the water clone's music Saïx allowed his mind to wander, his feet moving of their own accord. He knew Demyx was watching him, although it was becoming too dark to clearly make out his expression. He thought about how Demyx was always playing music, as if he could even take pleasure in it, and how the others mocked him for it. But perhaps he was the bravest of them all for refusing to succumb to the vacant monotony of emotionlessness.

Or maybe he was just stupid.

Saïx realised that they had stopped moving. Demyx was so close he could hear him breathing. His eyes were black in the darkness. Saïx wasn't sure who moved first but they kissed each other's lips, chastely, the gesture hollow and bitter-sweet and sincere all at once. The music had stilled. Demyx recalled his sitar and the water clone melted back into the sand.

"We should get back to the Castle," he said, teasingly. His hand seemed to have slipped from Saïx's shoulder to his chest, as if feeling for a heartbeat that wasn't there.

"Yes," Saïx agreed. He didn't move. Demyx kissed him again. Melancholy. Their bodies just barely touching. Demyx's damp vest, Saïx's heavy leather uniform. The taste of salt and pizza grease and tongue. Desperate? Perhaps, for the memory or the distraction or the pretence of love. Demyx's arm wrapped firmly around his waist. Both of them leaning into each other, just for a few moments, a few moments without Darkness or the Organisation or Xemnas' steady golden gaze.

"I still have work to do." Saïx had left his gloves with Demyx's garments and their leftover takeaway containers. He headed across the sand, Demyx jogging to keep up. The gloves were distance, impartiality; Saïx felt like he was covering up the secret that he had held Demyx like a child play-acting adult affections.s

As he was tugging on his boots, Demyx said, "We'll do this again though, right?"

Darkness, but Saïx hoped so.


End file.
